Corrosion Fatigue Failure of a Gray Cast Iron Water Main
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 6, Issue 2
Abstract
A failure investigation was conducted on a 30.5-cm diameter gray cast iron water main that failed in Anchorage, Alaska, due to a longitudinal fracture. Nearby pressure transducers recorded very modest system pressures at the time of the failure and the pipe did not show signs of advanced graphitization or significant mechanical damage. Mechanical testing and microanalysis were performed on the pipe material. The cause of the failure was determined to be brittle fracture which initiated at a subcritical corrosion fatigue (CF) crack approximately 40.6 cm in length. The corrosion fatigue crack nucleated from a casting defect on the inside surface of the pipe. The findings of the research reported in this paper suggest that subcritical CF crack growth may be a threat to gray cast iron water pipes. Corrosion fatigue mechanisms in gray cast iron have not been documented previously and may be a contributing factor for anomalous fractures showing evidence of multistage failure.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank Mark Corsentino of Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility and Timothy Kirk of the University of Alaska, Anchorage, for all of their help and guidance.
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 6 • Issue 2 • May 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 16, 2013
Accepted: Aug 11, 2014
Published online: Sep 11, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 11, 2015
Published in print: May 1, 2015
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